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Thomas Dermer (Plymouth, England, born circa 1590, died in the summer of 1620, Virginia) was a 17th century navigator and explorer.

Dermer first went to New England with Captain John Smith, who was sent out in 1614 by London merchants to lay the foundations of a new plantation and to trade with the Indians there. Dermer was to have accompanied Smith on his 1615 voyage to New England but the ship, after encountering pirates and the French, finally made its way back to Plymouth with great difficulty.

Dermer spent some time in Newfoundland, 1616–18, with his associate, Governor John Mason, at Cuper’s Cove (now Cupids), where he was possibly engaged in the fishing business but more likely involved in explorations of the island’s natural resources. He wrote a letter, dated September 1616, from Cuper’s Cove, in which he describes in flattering terms the fertility of the soil, abundance of wildlife, and mineral potentialities, an evidence of his interest in the commercial possibilities of the area.

It was during this stay in Newfoundland that Dermer met Tisquantum (or Squanto), the Patuxet Indian, who, with 24 others from Patuxet and Nauset, had been seized by Capt. Thomas Hunt in 1614 to be sold into slavery in [Malaga] [Spain]. Tisquantum and others were redeemed by local friars in Spain and sent to England. Tisquantum eventually arrived in the care of John Slany, a London merchant, treasurer of the Newfoundland Company, and shipbuilder. Tisquantum learned English and was put to use by Slany as an interpreter and New England resource expert. By 1616/17, Tisquantum was sent to Cuper’s Cove in one of Slany's ships. The outrage of Hunt's actions of 1614 caused hatred and distrusted between the Europeans and the Indians, to the point that in 1617 a French fishing ship was burned on the shores of Cape Cod. A few men escaped death only by being enslaved by the Nausets, all the others were killed. Dermer saw the value in Tisquantum's ability to speak English and to become an interpreter between the New England colonizers and the Indians. Dermer had no difficulty in persuading Tisquantum to assume this role. Tisquantum's own motives to return home meshed with the Dermer's and the Merchant's plans. Accompanied by Tisquantum, Dermer returned to England to confer with Sir Ferdinando Gorges who was the leader of the Plymouth merchants attempting to colonize New England. Gorges, who favored co-operation with the Indians as a matter of policy, agreed with Dermer’s plan. Gorges commissioned Dermer as commander of his 1619 expedition to New England with Tisquantum as interpreter.

Captain Dermer's small fleet arrived at the Monhegan (Maine) fishing grounds in May 1619. After "leaving the fishermen to their labour at Monhegan", Dermer, a small crew, and Tisquantum, left on a small open pinnacle of five tons to locate Patuxet, Tisquantum's home. They arrived at Patuxet in June of 1619 (Patuxet would become 'Plimoth Plantation' within a few months time). The journey from Monhegan revealed that there had been a terrible depopulation of the Natives in the last three years. Patuxet as well as other villages all along the coast were deserted, most of the inhabitants dead from some sort of great epidemic. Thomas Morton, six years later, would describe the land as "a new found Golgotha" with bones and skulls lying where no one could or would bury the overwhelming dead.

After their initial survey at Tisquantum's desolated village, The English and Tisquantum, proceeded inland to find survivors and to learn what had happened. After a days journey westward they arrived at the inhabited village of Namasket (Middleboro, MA). Dermer sent a messenger "...a day's journey farther west to Poconaokit (Bristol,Rhode Island), which bordereth on the sea, whence came to see me two kings, attended with a guard of fifty men, who being well satisfied with what my savage (Tisquantum) and I discoursed unto them, (being desirous of novelty,) gave me content in whatsoever I demanded, where I found that former relations were true". The 'kings' were Massasoit and his brother Quadequina. Dermer then writes: "...Here I redeemed a Frenchman, and afterwards another at Mastachusit, who three years since escaped shipwreck at the north-east of Cape Cod...". Dermer and Tisquantum are actively mending the relationships with the Pokanoket and Wampanoag Confederacy.

Dermer discharges Tisquantum to Massasoit's care and returns with his men to the ship at Patuxet, where they head out to explore a few more days in the the now Boston Harbor area, prospecting for gold, before returning to Monhegan by mid June. Dermer oversees the dispatching of the fishing vessels to England. He puts most of provisions on board Capt Ward's ship, The Sampson, which is ready bound to Virginia. Dermer and a few others will explore the Eastern Seaboard of America in a small open pinnacle, from Monhegan to Virginia.

Dermer's small boat endures storms and leaks. At one desperate moment they throw most of their provisions overboard to regain control of the ship, to prevent being dashed upon some stormy rocks. He writes that his relations within the Indians are now strained without Tisquantun to intercede. On the southern tip of Cape Cod Dermer is captured by the still seething Nausets. The Indians try to kill his men on the pinnacle. But then, in a bold move Dermer escapes with a Nauset leader as prisoner and then ransoms him back to his tribe for hatchets and a canoe full of corn.

Dermer's expedition then heads to Capaock, or Martha's Vineyard, (named by Gosnold in 1602) to find the truth behind the conflicting stories of what happened to Epinow, a sachem taken from Capaock in 1611 by a Capt Harlow and brought to England. After paraded around London as a wonder, he would be eventually used for two purposes: an English interpreter, and especially for his self professed knowledge of where the gold was in New England, a gambit that would get him a chance to return home. Captain Hobson brings him back to Capaock in 1614. In a tense standoff in a harbor against many canoes, Epinow calls out to the Indiams in thier language and sets the stage. A hail of arrows erupts from his country men and Epinow dives off the rails of Hobson's ship. Once back in England, an empty-handed Hobson relates that Epinow was killed in the skirmish.

Dermer arrives at Capaock in the summer of 1619 and meets a very alive Epinow. Dermer writes "...(he) was reported to have been slain with divers of his countrymen by sailors, which was false. With him I had much conference, who gave me very good satisfaction in every thing almost I could demand." Dermer muses that he doesn't have the time to prospect and leaves on good terms and continues on to Virginia. He rediscovers (the Dutch already knew) the passage behind Long Island and loses an anchor at the shoals of Hellsgate. He eventually makes it to Virginia and winters over at Martyn's Plantation where he almost dies from sickness.

A fully recovered Dermer left Jamestown in May 1620 heading to New England to "accomplish what his last discovery had omitted". After meeting with the Dutch on Hudson's River, he went on to Capaock where, for reasons unknown, Epinow tries to kill him. Dermer escapes with multiples wounds (up to fourteen) and returns to Virgina where he dies.